Internet based applications are here to stay, some of them competing and outperforming their rival desktop based applications.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
AJAX
Yeh Dil Maange More!!!
And when i did get it working at home and a friend with whom i could try the service out, i felt absolutely handicapped with many of the basic features that we've been used to in IM's missing in Google Talk. It has a neat interface and the works. But it does leave you a tad disappointed.
And "Yeh Dil maange more" also from the English Cricket team. We want one more!!!
The Ashes has come live again after a long long time.
The way this series is going we are likely to see yet another mock obituary:
In Affectionate Remembrance
of
AUSTRALIAN C R I C K E T,
which died at the Oval
on
12th SEPTEMBER, 2005,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances
R.I.P.
N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to England.
For the uninitiated. It was this mock Obituary in 1982 which led to the legend of the "Ashes"!!
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Where is Google headed?
Google Eath Vs MSN Virtual Earth
Google Homepage vs MSN Start Page
Google and Microsoft seem to have their own views of the internet world of tomorrow.
While Microsoft has been consolidating its position in the PC market by bundling a variety of information organisation/management tools along with its OS making the entire package extremely attractive, Google seems to have its own plans for tomorrow.
Google’s mission statement is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. And in keeping with its mission statement it has been coming out with applications that do just that and have been providing these for free. For every application that MS bundles along with its OS, Google seems to have on offer an application that does exactly that for absolutely free.
In doing so, Google is gradually sucking the life out of the Microsoft OS. What it aims to leave behind is just an OS that manages the hardware. With all other services being made available for free by Google and others like Yahoo, Mozilla etc, MS would find it difficult to make the entire package look like an attractive proposition.
Robert Young in a guest post on Om Maliks blog GigaOm, explains in detail what he thinks is Google's Strategy to make Microsoft obsolete.
Jason Kottke in his blog talks about OS Mutations that are likely to happen in the near future.
He talks about an OS based on the Web which he refers to as WebOS.
The System would have 3 main parts
- A Browser
- Web Applications and
- A local Web Server : which would serve content from the local machine to the browser.
With Yahoo's acquisition of konfabulator and Google's release of its Desktop Search, we certainly seem to be heading in this direction!!!
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Google Launches Google Talk
Google followed up its launch of the Google Desktop with the Google Talk, Googles IM Client.
This much talked about IM client as expected supports the popular Jabber IM Standard and can exchange messages with other clients supporting the standard XMPP Protocol like Trillian, GAIM, iChat, Adium, and Psi. Google says it will soon support MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.
Google Talk looks lean and mean. Its clean, with no unnecessary graphics or ads. It looks all set to take on MSN, Yahoo and anybody else.
So guys check it out!!!
Monday, August 22, 2005
Google Desktop !!!!
Ofcourse, it has replaced the "Desktop Sidebar" software that i have been using. Not a change thats going to last for long though or so it seems...
It has a new sidebar component which apparently is inspired by Windows Vista. The sidebar lets you check stock prices, weather, news, snaps et al. It also comes with a plug-in that allows you to check your mail straight from your outlook inbox.
The downside being that the user has very few options or preferences that he can set. I havent been able to categories and view my feeds according to sites. I dont seem to have an option of not checking my outlook mailbox without turning off the "display mail" feature entirely. And ofcourse i can see the weather/stock quotes only in the US of A.
At the end of the day, MS and Google can have their wars, but i think people will continue to use more useful applications like "Desktop Sidebar" that i've been using.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Zopa
Its an idea thats very much in tune with whats happening around us. Its a revolutionary concept which aims at making some of the most basic purposes served by banks redundant.
Here's what they say about themselves :
" Here's the way the world works (and it must be right because it's been like this for hundreds of years...)
People who have spare money give it to a bank. Banks then do whatever they like with it. Some of it they lend to people who need to borrow. Some of it they give to their shareholders. Some of it they gamble on the price of tin, or the dollar going down, or whether there'll be floods in Asia. Banks make lots of money from all this, a fraction of which they give back to their customers.
Zopa though lets people who have spare money to lend it directly to people, like them, who want to borrow it. No bank in the middle, no huge overheads, no unethical investments.
To minimise any risk, the money each lender puts in is spread amongst at least 50 borrowers (and likewise each borrower gets their money from a number of different lenders).
Zopa is, therefore, for people who want to be a part of something new. Who want to join a community of like-minded individuals and lend to them and borrow from them in a trusting but secure way.
Zopa is for people who are looking for a better rate of return. Zopa’s interest rates aren’t squeezed by middlemen (the banks) because there are no middlemen - that’s the Zopa idea.
Zopa is for creditworthy people who earn money in new ways, in ways that banks don’t always recognise. People who are self employed, people who have peaks and troughs to their income, people who would be invisible to a bank’s credit rating system but are seen and validated by Zopa’s."
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
iSkoot brings Skype to your cellphone
With a $10 a year software rental charges, iSkoot is offering long distance calls to any Skype user for nothing more than the cost of local air time to dial up from your mobile to your broadband connected home computer.
The idea is similar to making a call through your company's conference bridge or VOIP line or a normal calling card. Just that you'll need to dial into your own computer rather than the conference bridge number or calling card number.
The iSkoot founder, Jacob Guedalia, said his vision was to ''enable the individual to become his own long-distance carrier" by routing calls over a home or office computer connection, instead of AT&T or
More worries for telecom companies!!!
The Battle is On
Click on the title of this blog or on the links section for the link to their "Start" page, which owes much of its look and feel to the Google homepage. Nothing whatsoever on the page to indicate its a Microsoft page though, but for the small MSN icon on the top corner of your browser window.
Technorati goes Mobile
For those who can try it out : http://mobile.technorati.com
Monday, August 01, 2005
IPTV
With major cable firms enticing customers with a "Triple-play bundle" of TV, Broadband and telephony services, Mobile operators and thirdly VOIP providers.
IPTV is the last ditch effort from Telecom providers to stay in the race. There seem to be lots of legal and technical hurdles for now between them and IPTV.
But assuming they do provide users with the required bandwidth, will they be able to ensure that the user is not putting the available bandwidth to buy third party services from other providers.
"If you cant beat them, join them.", thats the strategy some others like the indian Telecom giant VSNL are adopting. VSNL plans to buy Teleglobe, the worlds largest VOIP Provider.
"Every big telecoms firm is investing to migrate from old, circuit-switched networks to new internet-based ones, with Britain's BT probably moving fastest."
With BT, Verizon, SBC all taking their first steps towards IPTV. We should hope to hear and see more of it very soon.
Terms to look out for: NGN, IMS ...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Messagecasts
Now that's really realtime!!!
Had a long lazy weekend. But things continue to move at a hectic pace all around. Its another Manic Monday!!!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Windows : A Long Journey
http://www.levenez.com/windows/history.html#04
And a sneak preview of the Windows Vista..
http://bink.nu/photos/news_article_images/category1012.aspx
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Google Homepage : A Class Act
And click on personalize your homepage.
A panel slides out from the left and Google has it all here. It acts as an RSS Reader. You can add your own RSS Feeds. Just drag and drop feeds anywhere you want on the screen. You dont need to download an Aggregator anymore.
You have your mail, news, weather any other feeds that you want - all in one page.
And they've done it in style.
Cost of Microsoft Monopoly : $10 Billion
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/26/1434243&from=rss/
Monday, July 25, 2005
Microsofts Response to Google Earth
This is to go live on the 25th of July...